Hi, All, Ok, I'll play.
I was thirteen when I rode my first century. I lived in Slidell, Louisiana at the time, and I rode to Biloxi, Mississippi along the coast. It was a lovely ride on old US 11, and the first half of the ride went really well--sun-kissed slabs of shell-aggregate concrete. You could say I was sailing right along, all right, on my Huffy, spinning out those cranks. I stopped for a Coke, exhausting my ride budget, refilled the bottle with water from the tap, and turned around. There was an invisible hand pressing on my chest. A whistling in my ears. A headwind all the way home. I took under 3h for the first fifty miles, and I got back just before dark, 10h after starting. I also learned that I have to eat from time to time, and that I should really bring money when I travel unless I plan to forage while riding. Roadside foraging in Mississippi is as appetizing as it sounds. I get reminded of this fact about annually, so this may well be something that I should have learned, and forget too frequently. Best Regards, Will William M. deRosset Fort Collins, CO On Monday, May 4, 2020 at 7:41:14 PM UTC-6, Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote: > > I nearly talked myself out of this thread because I’m about to make myself > look really stupid, but it was so funny that I’m doing it anyway. > > I’ve been somewhat of a mess my whole Biking Life. I adored bikes, always, > but I never had a proper bike education or a nice bike until 2012. I was > born to the least mechanically-inclined parents on earth, and my mom was > more proficient than my dad. I grew up riding the worst bike you can > imagine, always with nearly-flat tires. Maybe once a year, usually in > spring, Dad would haul my bike to the gas station and fill the tires with > air. It was like riding on clouds. But eventually, my tires would lose air > again and I’d have to wait until next year. Not that I’d notice anything > was amiss - I was too busy riding barefoot all over small town North > Dakota, falling out of trees, eating penny candy from the bowling alley and > building forts. Tires, what tires. > > I grew up, went to college, met and married my husband, who grew up on a > farm. We moved across the country with almost nothing and started our life > and careers. My farmer father-in-law came to visit and outfitted our garage > with tools he thought mandatory, including an air compressor. I think it > was my 27th birthday that my husband told me he wanted to get me a bike. I > knew just the one, it was *really* expensive at $125, but it was my > birthday and I would get the best: A blue Schwinn Sidewinder from the local > Walmart. > > While he was visiting, my FIL (again, a farmer and not a bike rider) > noticed my bike tires were pathetically low. Of course I hadn’t noticed; > flat tires were de rigueur for me! He filled them with the air compressor, > pushed on the tire and declared it good. And from then on, that was how I > did it. > > I’ve heard you all talk about your supple tires and not wanting them rock > hard, and I knew *I* had supple tires because when I squeezed them, there > was a tiny but perceptible give to the rubber. I mean, that’s what you all > meant, right? So I made sure I never filled my tires very fully because > supple tires were the ticket. > > I ended up with a floor pump last year. It has a gauge that tells you “how > much pressure you runnin’”. I have started using it lately and began to pay > attention to what my tire pressure was. 20-25. Huh. I remember folks > discussing tire pressure and I didn’t recall theirs being so low. So, I > asked Joe, who seems to answer most of the questions on the List and > doesn’t seem to resent it. He (through fits of laughter at his keyboard, > I’m sure) said that yes, I actually should be pumping up my tires to a > certain number and that yes, they would feel rock hard, and no, squeezing > them is not a good test, and indeed I would not explode my Big Bens (with > max psi of 70) if I filled them to 55 psi. > > I was today years old when I learned that your tires are *supposed* to > feel rock hard and be filled to an actual number. I was today years old > when I learned that my “supple tires” were just tires that were low on air. > > Who else has managed to miss the obvious when it comes to bike stuff? > > Leah, who would like you to know she is smart at other things. Just not > bike things. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/aa01da2c-f2dd-4192-8bb4-d1f8371c99ea%40googlegroups.com.
